原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
天宮氣象
The Courts of Heaven
初登上界，初登上界，
乍入天堂。乍入天堂。
金光萬道滾紅霓，金光万道滚红霓，
瑞氣千條噴紫霧。瑞气千条喷紫雾。
只見那南天門，只见那南天门，
碧沉沉，琉璃造就；碧沉沉，琉璃造就；
明幌幌，寶玉粧成。明幌幌，宝玉粧成。
兩邊擺數十員鎮天元帥，一員員頂梁靠柱，持銑擁旄；两边摆数十员镇天元帅，一员员顶梁靠柱，持铣拥旄；
四下列十數個金甲神人，一個個執戟懸鞭，持刀仗劍。四下列十数个金甲神人，一个个执戟悬鞭，持刀仗剑。
外廂猶可，外厢犹可，
入內驚人：入内惊人：
裡壁廂有幾根大柱，柱上纏繞著金鱗耀日赤鬚龍；里壁厢有几根大柱，柱上缠绕著金鳞耀日赤须龙；
又有幾座長橋，橋上盤旋著彩羽凌空丹頂鳳。又有几座长桥，桥上盘旋著彩羽凌空丹顶凤。
明霞幌幌映天光，明霞幌幌映天光，
碧霧濛濛遮斗口。碧雾蒙蒙遮斗口。
這天上有三十三座天宮，乃遣雲宮、毘沙宮、五明宮、太陽宮、花樂宮，……一宮宮脊吞金穩獸；这天上有三十三座天宫，乃遣云宫、毘沙宫、五明宫、太阳宫、花乐宫，……一宫宫脊吞金稳兽；
又有七十二重寶殿，乃朝會殿、凌虛殿、寶光殿、天王殿、靈官殿，……一殿殿柱列玉麒麟。又有七十二重宝殿，乃朝会殿、凌虚殿、宝光殿、天王殿、灵官殿，……一殿殿柱列玉麒麟。
壽星臺上，有千千年不卸的名花；寿星台上，有千千年不卸的名花；
煉藥爐邊，有萬萬載常青的繡草。炼药炉边，有万万载常青的绣草。
又至那朝聖樓前，又至那朝圣楼前，
絳紗衣，星辰燦爛；绛纱衣，星辰灿烂；
芙蓉冠，金璧輝煌。芙蓉冠，金璧辉煌。
玉簪珠履，玉簪珠履，
紫綬金章。紫绶金章。
金鐘撞動，三曹神表進丹墀；金钟撞动，三曹神表进丹墀；
天鼓鳴時，萬聖朝王參玉帝。天鼓鸣时，万圣朝王参玉帝。
又至那靈霄寶殿，又至那灵霄宝殿，
金釘攢玉戶，金钉攒玉户，
彩鳳舞朱門。彩凤舞朱门。
復道迴廊，處處玲瓏剔透；复道回廊，处处玲珑剔透；
三簷四簇，層層龍鳳翱翔。三簷四簇，层层龙凤翱翔。
上面有個紫巍巍，明幌幌，圓丟丟，亮灼灼，大金葫蘆頂。上面有个紫巍巍，明幌幌，圆丢丢，亮灼灼，大金葫芦顶。
下面有天妃懸掌扇，玉女捧仙巾，惡狠狠掌朝的天將，氣昂昂護駕的仙卿。下面有天妃悬掌扇，玉女捧仙巾，恶狠狠掌朝的天将，气昂昂护驾的仙卿。
正中間，正中间，
琉璃盤內，放許多重重疊疊太乙丹；琉璃盘内，放许多重重叠叠太乙丹；
瑪瑙瓶中，插幾枝彎彎曲曲珊瑚樹。玛瑙瓶中，插几枝弯弯曲曲珊瑚树。
正是天宮異物般般有，正是天宫异物般般有，
世上如他件件無。世上如他件件无。
金闕銀鑾並紫府，金阙银銮并紫府，
琪花瑤草暨瓊葩。琪花瑶草暨琼葩。
朝王玉兔壇邊過，朝王玉兔坛边过，
參聖金烏著底飛。参圣金乌著底飞。
猴王有分來天境，猴王有分来天境，
不墮人間點污泥。不堕人间点污泥。
逐句解 Line by line
初登上界，
初登上界，
First setting foot in the upper world,
上界 — the upper world, the celestial sphere above the mortal realm.
乍入天堂。
乍入天堂。
all at once he entered the halls of Heaven.
天堂 here is literally the “halls of Heaven,” the Jade Emperor's court, not a paradise of the afterlife.
金光萬道滾紅霓，
金光万道滚红霓，
Ten thousand shafts of golden light came tumbling through rose-red rainbows,
紅霓, the red-tinged rainbow; the 賦 opens by drenching the scene in coloured light.
瑞氣千條噴紫霧。
瑞气千条喷紫雾。
a thousand strands of auspicious vapor breathed out into purple mist.
瑞氣 (“auspicious ether”) and 紫霧 (“purple mist”) are stock signs of a holy presence; purple is the imperial-celestial colour.
只見那南天門，
只见那南天门，
He looked upon the Southern Gate of Heaven:
南天門, the Southern Gate — the very portal Wukong was just barred from. 那 here is demonstrative nà.
碧沉沉，琉璃造就；
碧沉沉，琉璃造就；
deep blue-green, all wrought of glazed lapis;
Built of 琉璃 (glazed lapis / coloured glass), a material reserved here for celestial architecture.
明幌幌，寶玉粧成。
明幌幌，宝玉粧成。
bright and dazzling, fashioned of precious jade.
粧成 (= 妝成), “adorned, fashioned” — the gate is dressed like a figure in jewels.
兩邊擺數十員鎮天元帥，一員員頂梁靠柱，持銑擁旄；
两边摆数十员镇天元帅，一员员顶梁靠柱，持铣拥旄；
On either hand stood ranks of dozens of Heaven-quelling marshals — each propping the ridge-beams and leaning on the pillars, gripping bright blades and holding plumed standards;
鎮天元帥, the marshals who garrison Heaven. 銑 (here xiǎn) is a bright ceremonial blade; 旄 (máo) a yak-tail standard — regalia of command. Kept as one member (Rule A).
四下列十數個金甲神人，一個個執戟懸鞭，持刀仗劍。
四下列十数个金甲神人，一个个执戟悬鞭，持刀仗剑。
below were arrayed a dozen or more warriors in golden mail — each bearing pike and hanging whip, gripping saber and brandishing sword.
金甲神人, armoured divine warriors; the couplet pairs marshals above with rank-and-file below.
外廂猶可，
外厢犹可，
The outer courts were striking enough;
外廂 versus 入內, “outer quarter” / “inner” — the hinge turning the description from gate to interior.
入內驚人：
入内惊人：
but within, the sight astonished:
The inner courts surpass the outer; the eye now moves within.
裡壁廂有幾根大柱，柱上纏繞著金鱗耀日赤鬚龍；
里壁厢有几根大柱，柱上缠绕著金鳞耀日赤须龙；
along the inner walls rose great pillars, coiled about with sun-bright, scarlet-bearded dragons of golden scale;
赤鬚龍, the scarlet-whiskered golden dragon coiling the columns — an imperial motif raised to celestial pitch.
又有幾座長橋，橋上盤旋著彩羽凌空丹頂鳳。
又有几座长桥，桥上盘旋著彩羽凌空丹顶凤。
and there were long bridges, on which wheeled and circled rainbow-plumed, crimson-crested phoenixes soaring into the void.
丹頂鳳, the red-crested phoenix; dragon-pillar and phoenix-bridge form the matched pair.
明霞幌幌映天光，
明霞幌幌映天光，
Bright wisps of cloud-glow lit the heavenly light,
明霞, bright cloud-glow; the eye lifts from architecture to atmosphere.
碧霧濛濛遮斗口。
碧雾蒙蒙遮斗口。
blue-green mists hung dense and veiled the Dipper's mouth.
斗口, the “mouth” of the Northern Dipper (北斗); the mists rise high enough to veil the constellation.
這天上有三十三座天宮，乃遣雲宮、毘沙宮、五明宮、太陽宮、花樂宮，……一宮宮脊吞金穩獸；
这天上有三十三座天宫，乃遣云宫、毘沙宫、五明宫、太阳宫、花乐宫，……一宫宫脊吞金稳兽；
In this Heaven there are thirty-three celestial palaces — the Cloud-Dispatch Palace, the Vaiśravaṇa Palace, the Five-Brightness Palace, the Sun Palace, the Flower-Joy Palace, and the rest — each palace-ridge crowned with a beast of molten gold;
The 三十三 heavens echo the Buddhist Trāyastriṃśa (忉利天); 毘沙宮 is named for Vaiśravaṇa. The …… marks a list the original abridges; 穩獸 is a roof-ridge guardian-beast.
又有七十二重寶殿，乃朝會殿、凌虛殿、寶光殿、天王殿、靈官殿，……一殿殿柱列玉麒麟。
又有七十二重宝殿，乃朝会殿、凌虚殿、宝光殿、天王殿、灵官殿，……一殿殿柱列玉麒麟。
and there are seventy-two tiers of treasure-halls — the Court-Assembly Hall, the Void-Transcending Hall, the Jeweled-Radiance Hall, the Heavenly Kings' Hall, the Numinous Officers' Hall, and the rest — each colonnade ranged with jade qilin.
Matching the palaces: 七十二重寶殿, seventy-two tiers of halls (again an abridged …… list), each colonnade set with jade 麒麟.
壽星臺上，有千千年不卸的名花；
寿星台上，有千千年不卸的名花；
On the Terrace of the Star of Longevity bloom famed flowers that for a thousand thousand years never fade;
壽星臺, terrace of the Star of Longevity; 不卸 takes bú by sandhi before fourth-tone 卸.
煉藥爐邊，有萬萬載常青的繡草。
炼药炉边，有万万载常青的绣草。
by the elixir-refining furnace grow embroidered grasses that through ten thousand ages stay ever green.
煉藥爐, the elixir-refining furnace — a first glimpse of Heaven's alchemical apparatus, to which Wukong's later mischief will return.
又至那朝聖樓前，
又至那朝圣楼前，
Coming again before the Tower of Sacred Audience:
朝聖樓, the Tower of Sacred Audience; 又至那 (“coming again to —”) is a lead-in, carried whole.
絳紗衣，星辰燦爛；
绛纱衣，星辰灿烂；
crimson gauze robes, their constellations ablaze;
絳紗衣, crimson gauze vestments spangled like the night sky — the dress of the assembled immortals.
芙蓉冠，金璧輝煌。
芙蓉冠，金璧辉煌。
lotus-blossom caps, their gold and jade resplendent.
芙蓉冠, the lotus-cap; paired with the gauze robe to clothe the host.
玉簪珠履，
玉簪珠履，
Jade hairpins and pearl-sewn slippers,
玉簪珠履 and 紫綬金章 — hairpins, slippers, seal-ribbons, insignia: the full regalia of celestial rank.
紫綬金章。
紫绶金章。
purple seal-cords and golden insignia.
Closing the 4-4 couplet of office and ornament.
金鐘撞動，三曹神表進丹墀；
金钟撞动，三曹神表进丹墀；
When the golden bell is struck, the spirits' memorials of the Three Bureaus ascend the vermilion steps;
三曹, the Three Bureaus (Heaven, Earth, Water); 丹墀, the vermilion stairway before the throne.
天鼓鳴時，萬聖朝王參玉帝。
天鼓鸣时，万圣朝王参玉帝。
when the heavenly drum sounds, the myriad sages pay court and attend upon the Jade Emperor.
參 (cān), “to attend audience, pay homage”; 朝王 takes 朝 as cháo, “to court.”
又至那靈霄寶殿，
又至那灵霄宝殿，
Coming again to the Hall of Numinous Mists:
靈霄寶殿, the Hall of Numinous Mists — the Jade Emperor's throne-hall, heart of the celestial court.
金釘攢玉戶，
金钉攒玉户，
golden studs cluster the jade door,
攢 (cuán), “to cluster, stud” — the door close-set with golden nails.
彩鳳舞朱門。
彩凤舞朱门。
painted phoenixes dance at the cinnabar gate.
彩鳳舞朱門, painted phoenixes at the cinnabar gate — mirror to the studded jade door above.
復道迴廊，處處玲瓏剔透；
复道回廊，处处玲珑剔透；
Galleried walks and winding corridors, everywhere intricate and translucent;
復道迴廊, double-decked galleries and winding cloisters; 迴 = 回.
三簷四簇，層層龍鳳翱翔。
三簷四簇，层层龙凤翱翔。
triple eaves and fourfold brackets, tier upon tier where dragons and phoenixes wheel in flight.
三簷四簇, the multiplied eaves and brackets of celestial roofing; 翱翔, soaring.
上面有個紫巍巍，明幌幌，圓丟丟，亮灼灼，大金葫蘆頂。
上面有个紫巍巍，明幌幌，圆丢丢，亮灼灼，大金葫芦顶。
Above hangs a purple-towering, bright-flashing, perfectly round and gleaming great golden gourd-finial.
The survey closes on an 上面/下面 pair. Above: the great golden 葫蘆頂 (gourd-finial), heaped with reduplicatives (紫巍巍, 明幌幌, 圓丟丟, 亮灼灼) — one member.
下面有天妃懸掌扇，玉女捧仙巾，惡狠狠掌朝的天將，氣昂昂護駕的仙卿。
下面有天妃悬掌扇，玉女捧仙巾，恶狠狠掌朝的天将，气昂昂护驾的仙卿。
Below stand sky-consorts holding aloft the fans, jade maidens bearing the immortal kerchiefs, fierce-glaring generals who marshal the court, high-spirited ministers who guard the throne.
Below: the throne's attendants — 天妃 with fans, 玉女 with kerchiefs, glaring generals, high-spirited ministers — the closing member of the pair.
正中間，
正中间，
At the very center:
正中間 (“at the very center”), a short lead-in to the last two treasures.
琉璃盤內，放許多重重疊疊太乙丹；
琉璃盘内，放许多重重叠叠太乙丹；
within a lapis dish are heaped, layer upon layer, the Pills of the Great One;
太乙丹, pills of the Great One (Tàiyǐ) — the supreme elixir, heaped here as if commonplace.
瑪瑙瓶中，插幾枝彎彎曲曲珊瑚樹。
玛瑙瓶中，插几枝弯弯曲曲珊瑚树。
in an agate vase are set sprays of winding, twisting coral.
珊瑚樹, branching coral set like flowers in an agate vase; pills and coral close the catalogue of marvels.
正是天宮異物般般有，
正是天宫异物般般有，
Truly, every rare thing of the heavenly palace it holds,
般般有 / 件件無 — “every kind it has / not one is found [below]”: the rhetorical clinch setting Heaven against the mortal world.
世上如他件件無。
世上如他件件无。
while in the world below not one of them is found.
The clinching contrast with the line above.
金闕銀鑾並紫府，
金阙银銮并紫府，
Gold towers and silver bell-carriages stand amid the purple courts,
金闕銀鑾, gold towers and silver bell-carriages; the closing 七言 quatrain gathers the scene into four matched couplets.
琪花瑤草暨瓊葩。
琪花瑶草暨琼葩。
jasper flowers and jade grasses join the kingfisher blooms.
瓊葩, gem-blossoms; the last flourish of celestial flora.
朝王玉兔壇邊過，
朝王玉兔坛边过，
Past the altar's edge the Jade Hare goes paying court,
玉兔 (the Jade Hare of the moon) and 金烏 (the three-legged Golden Crow of the sun) stand for moon and sun, come here to pay court.
參聖金烏著底飛。
参圣金乌著底飞。
skimming the depths below, the Golden Crow flies to attend the sage.
著底飛 — 著 is zhuó (“to keep close to, graze”); the sun-crow skims the depths below as it flies to audience.
猴王有分來天境，
猴王有分来天境，
The Monkey King has the lot to come into this heavenly realm,
有分 (yǒu fèn), “to have the lot/destiny [to]” — the verse turns from scene to fate: Wukong is granted the celestial realm.
不墮人間點污泥。
不堕人间点污泥。
and falls not back into the human world's speck of filthy mud.
不墮 (bú duò, sandhi before fourth-tone 墮): “falls not back” into 點污泥, the “speck of filthy mud” of the human world — though the chapter will show the lifting is provisional.
總評 Commentary
The set-piece 賦 on the courts of Heaven is one of the novel's great descriptive arias, and like all such pieces it does interpretive work beneath the dazzle. Built almost entirely of antithetical couplets — gate and interior, marshals above and warriors below, palaces and halls, the golden finial above and the throng of attendants below — it renders Heaven as a place of perfect symmetry and inexhaustible plenitude: thirty-three palaces, seventy-two halls, flowers that never fade, elixirs heaped like grain. The rhetorical hinge falls near the end, 天宮異物般般有，世上如他件件無 — every marvel Heaven holds, the world below lacks utterly — which names the 賦's true subject: the absolute gulf between the celestial order and the mortal dust.
Andrew Plaks reads the Heaven of 西遊記 as a deliberately bureaucratic, faintly satirical construction — an empire of offices, registers, and ritual punctilio — and the catalogue here bears that out even as it sings. What it enumerates is not wild paradise but ordered hierarchy: ranks of marshals, tiers of halls, the regalia of 紫綬金章, the choreography of bell and drum by which the myriad sages pay court. The same machinery that barred Wukong at the gate governs everything within; in this Heaven, beauty and bureaucracy are one thing.
The final couplet turns the lens back on the monkey: 猴王有分來天境，不墮人間點污泥 — he “has the lot” to enter the celestial realm and is, for now, lifted clear of the world's filth. Read through the inner-alchemical lens that Liu Yiming and the 丹經 tradition bring to the novel, the ascent figures the refined spirit's rise into a purer register of being — the 心猿 admitted, however briefly, to the precincts of the immortals. Yet the verb 不墮 (“falls not”) quietly concedes that falling is the open question. These halls are real, but so is the appetite that brought the monkey here; the rest of the chapter measures one against the other and finds that no quantity of splendour can satisfy a will set on being Equal to Heaven.